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Related to: 'Red Strike'

Julie Sarkissian blogs about the problems facing the protagnist of her debut novel, DEAR LUCY

Something's Wrong With Lucy - But What?

Lucy is different – that much is clear. She speaks like a child, doesn’t recognize social boundaries, flies into rages, and treasures rotten food. Her cognition is impaired, her vocabulary is very limited and she cannot read or write. But what – precisely – is wrong with her is left up to the reader.
Lucy is the protagonist of my novel, DEAR LUCY, and from the first sentence of the book I ever wrote it was obvious that Lucy was cognitively different. The way Lucy describes herself is as “missing too many words.” Her mother calls her “difficult.”
Readers of early drafts of the book had a few theories as to Lucy’s condition; autism, Williams Syndrome, Down Syndrome. But Lucy’s mother has kept her from going to school and Lucy has never seen a doctor. So in the fictional reality of the book there is no official diagnosis. But as the novel progressed I wondered – should I have one?
I was torn.
If Lucy was presenting enough symptoms to point to a real condition, was I ignoring the obvious not to fold that condition into my development of her character? Was it insensitive of me to allude to aspects of certain real, life-altering conditions but not assign a specific condition to Lucy? I worried about appropriating aspects of serious conditions without treating those conditions with proper respect and acknowledgement. And though any clinical diagnosis would probably not be explicit in the novel, I wondered if I would be ignoring an opportunity to bring attention to a real disorder when people asked me about Lucy’s condition, the way The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time did for autism.
On the other hand, I had concerns that if I chose a diagnosis for Lucy, I would be ascribing to her qualities that she wouldn’t have otherwise presented. Lucy had her own will over my writing and over the novel. I didn’t want to yoke Lucy’s expression by keeping her behavior and abilities consistent with a clinical condition. Accuracy would also become a critical issue if Lucy’s condition was named.
Ultimately I chose not to diagnose Lucy, though I worry the artistic freedom provided by that decision comes at the price of being judged for being too liberal with my treatment of cognitive disorders.
Now that publication is a few months away, I am apprehensive of how my treatment of Lucy’s cognitive limitations will be judged. I have yet to talk to a reader who has a learning different child, or works with learning different people, and that conversation is one I will be honored, and not a bit anxious, to have.

Black Ops

Chris Ryan

Head Hunters

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

The attack dog had its jaws clamped round the target's forearm and had sunk its teeth into his flesh. Danny could see the dark stain of blood through his night-vision goggles. The screaming had stopped. The target was staring blindly into the darkness, but he clearly knew there were armed men approaching him...Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The Taliban are on the rise.A top-secret SAS kill team is assassinating high-value targets. It is bloody, violent, relentless work, suitable only for the Regiment's most skilled and ruthless head hunters.Like Danny Black.But when Danny joins the kill team, he learns that Taliban militants are not his only problem. There are elements within the British Army who want to bring the SAS to book. And there are elements within the SAS who have their crosshairs on Danny himself.Framed for a sickening war crime, Danny finds himself hunted in a brutal, dangerous terrain where his wits, training and strength may not be enough to survive. And in a world where his enemies are closer than he could have imagined, he must do whatever it takes to get to the truth. If he fails, it will mean the end not only of Danny Black, but of the SAS itself.

Chris Ryan

Safe: How to stay safe in a dangerous world

Chris Ryan

Warlord

Chris Ryan

Shadow Kill

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

Held up by rebel forces in a brutal siege, John Porter is tested to the limit in the African jungle. Strikeback hero John Porter is sent on a mission with Regimental scallywag John Bald. Where Porter plays it by the book, Bald will always want to break the rules.They are sent to Sierra Leone to extract Ronald Soames, a former CO of the Regiment and now right-hand man to the President. But when Porter and Bald arrive the Englishman has disappeared, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Rebels are threatening to take over the country and its diamond mines - and to massacre all foreigners.Porter and Bald find themselves fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Regiment psychopath who is already embedded in the country.But it soon becomes clear that the Firm has lied to them about the true nature of the mission.What seems at first to be a battle to control Sierra Leone's diamond mines will turn out to about a much greater evil - and with a trail that leads back to both Westminster and the Kremlin.

Bad Soldier

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

A migrant boat battles through the rough Mediterranean. Its passengers are desperate, starving and scared.They are also being ruthlessly targeted by the SAS.Islamic State militants are smuggling themselves into Europe using these boats. Only by locating such men before they make it into the UK can the Regiment stop them committing their acts of terror on British soil.When one of these migrants reveals plans for a sickening Christmas Day atrocity in London, SAS operative Danny Black is tasked with infiltrating the most dangerous theatre of war in the world: Islamic State heartland. There, he and his team must lift a brutal IS commander - the only man who knows all the details of the London attack. The commander surrounds himself with vicious militants and a harem of sex slaves whom he treats in the most sadistic ways imaginable. And his jihadi wife is, if possible, even more abominable than him.As Danny pits himself against the violent thugs of the Islamic State, he learns that it is not just the UK that is under threat. His very presence on the mission has put at risk the safety of those closest to him. And he discovers that there are greater forces at work here, who do not care if the innocent live or die.Now there is nothing Danny will not do, no line he will not cross, to protect his family. Whether that makes him a good soldier or a bad soldier he neither knows nor cares. Because as he is fast learning, it is sometimes impossible to tell the difference between the two.And as every SAS soldier is trained to understand, the worst threats often come from the most unexpected places...

Hellfire

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

The third book in the hugely popular Danny Black series by the creator of the hit TV show Strikeback.On the Syria/Iraq border a British hostage is beheaded by IS terrorists. The executioner is a young British extremist. A masked figure watches him. This mysterious person is treated with a mixture of respect and terror. They call him the Caliph.In Nigeria the British High Commisioner and his young aide are kidnapped. A four-person SAS team, including Regiment hero Danny Black, is deployed to find him. The team find devastation in Nigeria, and when they discover prisoners infected with the plague they realise they have uncovered a combined Boko Haram/IS plot to unleash a bio-terror attack upon the world.The team must stop the terrorists and identify the Caliph before the deadly disease threatens those much closer to home.

The Kill Zone

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

From the author of the bestselling Danny Black series and the hit TV show Strikeback.The guys in the Regiment know they face their fiercest enemies when they fight the Taliban. No-one is tougher, more deadly - or more cunning. And if they enter the Taliban's kill zone, they know just what to expect...When three deadly Stinger missiles go missing in Helmand Province, the Regiment is tasked to retrieve the weapons at all costs. SAS legend Jack Harker has a mission to lead an eight-man team into a suspected Taliban facility. He's suspicious about what the aims of the mission really are - and it's about to get noisy.Meanwhile, in Belfast, Siobhan Byrne, a highly trained surveillance operative, is infiltrating the drug crew of a former IRA commander. But are her motives professional or personal? Even she doesn't know any more.Neither Jack nor Siobhan can guess just how closely linked their operations are about to become, or just what's at stake. But as the President of the United States makes plans to visit the UK, a devastating plot unfolds.

Osama

Chris Ryan

Masters of War

Chris Ryan

Deathlist

Chris Ryan

Murder Team

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

Danny Black is a lone wolf on an unofficial mission.He is in the deserts of East Africa looking for his old comrade in arms Spud, wounded in their last mission and now missing.A wounded British solder is a commodity in these parts...Danny recruits a grizzled ex-Blade to help him, encounters an ex-Mossad mercenary, who is part of the supply chain, and heads for a showdown with a small Somali army, led by most-wanted Islamist militant Abu Bakr.In the heat of battle Danny discovers, he is not the lone wolf he thought he was. He begins to wonder, as so many soldiers have before him, is he just a pawn in a greater game?(P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton

Hunter Killer

Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan Extreme: Silent Kill

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

Northern Ireland, 1993. For high-flying MI5 officer Avery Chance the real war has only just begun. When Chance is abducted by the IRA's notorious Nutting Squad, her hopes lie in the hands of a young SAS recruit who must risk everything to bring her home. Twenty years after his act of self-sacrifice in Belfast ex-SAS legend John Bald is a scarred shadow of his former self. But when a face from the past appears and rescues him from deep trouble, Bald is offered one last shot at redemption. His target is Kurt Pretorius, a ruthless mercenary operating deep in the wilds of war-ravaged Somali. In a world where rogue mercenaries operate beyond the reach of the law, Kurt Pretorius has transformed himself into a god. It is up to Bald to stop Pretorius before he turns Somalia into a terrorist haven. But Bald quickly finds himself sucked into a twisted game of survival, where the stakes could not be higher - and the price of failure is his life... With time running out, Bald must kill Pretorius before he brings down everyone around him. It's a mission Bald was born to do. Because sometimes, the only way to beat your deadliest enemy...is to be like your deadliest enemy.This is the fourth book in Chris Ryan's Extreme series.The Chris Ryan Extreme books take you even further into the heart of the mission with more extreme action, more extreme language and more extreme pace. Like Call of Duty, Battlefield and Medal of Honour you'll feel part of the team.Chris Ryan Extreme: Silent Kill has previously been published as four separate shorter missions. Now in one book to keep you at the heart of the action.

Chris Ryan Extreme: Most Wanted

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

The third book in the Chris Ryan Extreme series. Disavowed.No one can escape their past forever. Ex-SAS operator John Bald knows that better than most. So when the Firm corners Bald in Kazakhstan with a promise to wipe the slate clean, he reluctantly agrees to return to the frontline. His mission: hunt down a fugitive Russian oligarch suspected of murdering a beautiful young Westminster aide. Viktor Klich knows too much. Now Bald must catch Klich - before the Russian security services get to him first.Desperate.But what begins as a simple snatch-and-grab soon descends into a brutal fight for survival as Bald pursues Klich from the violent streets of Caracas to the brash glamour of Dubai, leaving a trail of blood and bullets in his wake. As he closes in on his quarry Bald finds his loyalties called into question. And when the mission goes wrong, he's accused of being complicit in a dangerous deceit.Deadly.Now Bald is a wanted man. Only one person can help him: Viktor Klich, the oligarch he was ordered to kill. In a world where nothing is as it seems, Bald will have to call on all his skills to stay alive, protect his former enemy - and uncover a dark secret that goes right to the heart of the establishment ...The Chris Ryan Extreme books take you even further into the heart of the mission with more extreme action, more extreme language and more extreme pace. Like Call of Duty or Medal of Honour you'll feel part of the team.(P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton

Chris Ryan Extreme: Night Strike

Chris Ryan

Authors:

Chris Ryan

The second book in the Chris Ryan Extreme series. Former SAS hero John Bald is a man at war with himself and fighting a losing battle with the bottle. But then he is reluctantly thrust back into battle...In the race to develop ever more powerful weapons, technology has become the new frontline in global terrorism. And when one of America's most cutting-edge defence contractors suspects a sleeper cell operating in its midst, the Firm reaches out to its most cold-blooded son. Bald's mission: kill the sleeper before they can smuggle top-secret weaponry into the hands of the West's deadliest enemies.But the mission goes sideways, and Bald is the fall guy. Now he must pursue the sleeper from the ghettos of Florida to the war-torn streets of Tripoli, in a relentless hunt for the technology and the truth. Shadowed every step of the way by a ruthless CIA hitman, Bald soon finds that the lines between friend and enemy are blurred, and he'll have to call on all his warrior instincts to stay alive...The Chris Ryan Extreme books take you even further into the heart of the mission with even more extreme action, more extreme language and more extreme pace. Like Call of Duty or Medal of Honor, you'll feel part of the team. Chris Ryan Extreme: Night Strike has previously been published as four separate shorter missions. Now combined in one ebook to keep you at the centre of the action.